Mark Isenberger, Assistant Editor at Perfect 10 Magazine writes: "Greetings. In a news story dated 5/15 titled "Yes, We're Going to a POTY Party," you mentioned a party for Penthouse Pet of the Year Juliet Cariaga.
While we respect the use of aliases in adult entertainment, it is noteworthy that Ms. Cariaga appeared in the premiere issue of our magazine, PERFECT 10, in August of 1997, in addition to our Aug/Sept. 99 issue. She appeared in both cases under her real name of Erica Lookadoo.
It is also noteworthy that her appearance in our magazine refutes her claims on the Howard Stern Show that she was a factory worker discovered by Penthouse. We shot her first. Furthermore, she was not a contender in our inaugural Model of the Year contest, in which the winner received $220,000.
Pictures of Ms. Cariaga/Lookadoo may be seen in the member's area of our website, www.perfect10.com.
In a follow-up conversation, Isenberger said there was no problem other than the fact that Perfect 10 wanted to establish bragging rights over Cariaga who appeared with them before anyone else.
Isenberger: "It's not a controversy but she was in Perfect 10 first. We did shoot her first and we also shot the new Playboy Playmate of the Year who was just announced in the new issue, first, as well. We've beat Playboy and Penthouse to the punch many, many times including Pet of the Year and Playmate of the Year. Incidentally, the winner of our model of the year in our first year is Ashley Degenford who appears on the X Show. On Stern they were grilling her [Cariaga/Lookadoo] about her background. She claimed she worked in a vinegar factory and had never done any modeling. But she was in a bar in Hollywood when a photo rep from Penthouse saw her and the rest is history. She was an aspiring model, nude or otherwise. We shot her probably five months previous to the August '97 issue."
